SELS Faculty

 See our amazing faculty members here:

Shalle Leeming

Shalle Leeming has more than twenty years of experience teaching and developing curriculum for English language learners, most recently in the art and design context of California College of the Arts, where she is Assistant Professor of Writing and Literature. She has also taught English...Read more about Shalle Leeming

Andrea Lypka

Andrea Enikő Lypka, Ph.D., has over 15 years of teaching experience in Guinea-Bissau, Romania, China, and the U.S. Currently, she teaches cross-cultural understanding and methods of TESOL to preservice teachers and ESL to journalists. As an Alumni Ambassador for the English...Read more about Andrea Lypka

Paula Leao Madsen

Paula Leao Madsen, MA in Applied Linguistics, is currently writing her PhD thesis (also in Applied Linguistics). She has taught a range of college-level courses over the past 14 years, including English as a Second Language and English as a Foreign Language (from basic to advanced levels...Read more about Paula Leao Madsen

Ron Martinez

Ron Martinez holds a PhD in English from the University of Nottingham and an MSc in Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition from the University of Oxford, with over 25 years of experience in the language teaching profession. He currently leads a number of initiatives related to...Read more about Ron Martinez

Barbara (Bobbie) McClain

Barbara (Bobbie) McClain, M.A. Teaching, has taught Rhetoric and Writing at San Diego State University and ESL/EFL in California, Japan, and Vietnam. She is an award winning writer (Family Guide to the Exhibition, San Francisco Asian Art Museum, “Splendors of Imperial...Read more about Barbara (Bobbie) McClain

John McClain

John McClain, BA in Philosophy (UC Berkeley) and MA in Comparative Literature (SFSU), has taught TESOL and English (composition, reading, and literature) since the mid-1980’s. He lived and taught in Japan for eight and a half years. In California, he has been a teacher at Cañada College,...Read more about John McClain

David McCormick

David McCormick began his journey as an ESL teacher during a one-year stay in Brazil, where he confirmed how much he enjoys interacting with people from other cultures, as well as his love of second language learning and teaching. After earning an MA in TESOL from the Middlebury Institute...Read more about David McCormick

Tom McNichol

Tom McNichol, M.A. TEFL, has been teaching ESL in the Bay Area since 1981. He teaches full-time at San Francisco City College and is also the assistant basketball coach. Tom played college basketball at Bucknell University and went on to play in Madrid, Spain. Tom also taught at UC...Read more about Tom McNichol

Nora Mitchell

Nora Mitchell holds a B.A. from UC Berkeley focused on French language and history. After careers in high-tech marketing and non-profit management, she earned a TESL certificate from UC Berkeley Extension and an M.A. TESOL from the University of San Francisco. When teaching, she draws from her...Read more about Nora Mitchell

Melody Noll

Born and raised in Berkeley, California, Melody Noll earned her M.A.T. at The School for International Training. She began her EFL/ESL career in Zurich, Switzerland and now has nearly 40 years’ experience teaching everyone from small children and the elderly to scholars and business...Read more about Melody Noll

Michele Rajotte

Michele Rajotte holds a B.S. in Journalism and an M.A.T. in TESOL. As an ESOL instructor, in Providence, Rhode Island, she provided support to immigrants and refugees in a non-profit organization and taught blended learning classes in Workforce Education at the Community College. She was...Read more about Michele Rajotte

Kyle Ridley

Kyle Ridley holds multiple graduate degrees in education (TESOL/Linguistics), education administration, and business administration. Since 2013, he has taught in several high school and university programs in New York, Boston, Phoenix, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Kyle has instructed...Read more about Kyle Ridley

Paula Runnals

Paula holds a BA in Spanish from UC Berkeley and an MA in Education from Stanford University. She has taught Spanish as a foreign language in California middle and high schools, and has taught English as a second language and test preparation courses in Spain, New Zealand and Australia....Read more about Paula Runnals

Will Seng

The majority of Will Seng's time in the UC system was spent teaching Technical Communication—writing and oral presentation skills—primarily to NNS students in the College of Engineering at UC Berkeley. But after that program was eliminated in 2009-10, he taught that class plus other ESP...Read more about Will Seng

David Skolnick

Lecturer

David Skolnick (he/him) teaches CWR1A at UC Berkeley, specializing in teaching multi-lingual students, and has been teaching academic vocabulary, cultural studies, research, reading, and writing in the UC Berkeley Summer English Language Studies program since 2005. He is Assistant Professor in...Read more about David Skolnick

Renee Snyder

Renee has a BA in psychology, an MA in General-Experimental Psychology, and a PhD in Psychology (Research & Methodology). She has worked in corporate research for 15 years, and she went back to school to obtain a MA in TESOL to expand her teaching repertoire. Renee has been a college...Read more about Renee Snyder

Clifford Stanley

Clifford Stanley, a graduate of UC Berkeley and UC Law SF (formerly UC Hastings) practiced civil and criminal law with an emphasis on criminal appeals for 25 years. He has taught Legal Research and Writing and classes about the US legal system, including at Berkeley Law (formerly Boalt...Read more about Clifford Stanley

Peter Vahle

Continuing Lecturer of College Writing
College Writing Programs

Peter Vahle is an applied linguist and continuing lecturer in the College Writing Programs at UC Berkeley. Peter’s career in teaching English began in Spain in the early 1990s where he taught a variety of English Language Courses. In the late 1990s, Peter began training new teachers of English...Read more about Peter Vahle

Beth Wadell

Beth Wadell has degrees from UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University, and has taught English to Speakers of Other Languages in Mexico and at colleges and universities around the San Francisco Bay Area. She is a faculty member at Laney College in Oakland.Read more about Beth Wadell

Margi Wald

Continuing Lecturer and Director of Summer English Language Studies

Margi Wald, M.A. Applied Linguistics, teaches first-year writing, reading, and grammar & vocabulary courses specifically designed for multilingual students. She directs UC Berkeley's Summer English Language Studies program, co-edits The CATESOL Journal, and has...Read more about Margi Wald

David Wiese

Continuing Lecturer and Associate Director of Summer English Language Studies

David Wiese teaches first and second year writing during fall and spring, and is the Associate Director of the Summer English Language Studies Program. He also creates textbooks and online learning materials related to academic writing, reading, and English as a second language. Previously...Read more about David Wiese

Tammy Wik

Tammy Wik has her MA TESOL from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. She has over 15 years experience in English language education and enjoys edtech, curriculum design, assessment, and language program administration. She has taught English in Japan and led...Read more about Tammy Wik

Andrew Yim

Andrew H. Yim (he/him) is a new instructor in the SELS program and a 5th year PhD candidate in Composition and Applied Linguistics (CAL) at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). He is one of the graduate co-editors of The Peer Review and previously worked as the Assistant...Read more about Andrew Yim